Hair care is in excess of a $100 billion (U.S.) dollar industry. A large percentage of this total is spent on hair care products, including hair conditioners, gels, oil, and other hair treatments. Since the earliest days of such treatments, consumers have faced an ongoing problem, the need to retain these products on their hair while the treatments work on the hair. Many unsatisfactory solutions have been attempted. The simplest of these is to apply some type of cap or head covering over the treated hair. Ideally, this head covering needs to be made of some non-absorbent material in order not to absorb the hair treatment away from the hair, thus defeating the purposes of the treatment. Plastic caps, often shower caps, are the prototypical hair covering in this class, but these caps have numerous drawbacks. They are loose fitting and can be easily dislodged by wind or touch. They are bulky and unsightly. They fit loosely, and therefore do not assist in distributing the hair treatment among the hair shafts. Lastly, their loose fit promotes the pooling of hair treatment products which are likely to then run out from under the cap, damaging or putting unsightly marks on clothing.
The art has developed various means of retaining hair care products within a cap-like device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,278 to Watanabe utilizes a loose, bouffant style cap that contains a ceramic paper liner within layers of plastic material. The ceramic paper layer is designed to retain heat. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,636 to Reuven teaches a loose, bouffant style cap that contains a gel layer held in a space between two layers of plastic.
These devices share several common shortcomings that are addressed by the instant invention. First, the caps are loose, bouffant style caps that are not form fitted to the head. As a result, they are loose when worn, and are susceptible to being disturbed by wind or touch. Secondly, as they are not form fitted to the head, they are incapable of exerting any compressive force upon the hair. As a result, they are incapable of exerting any hydraulic pressure on hair care products that may have been applied to the hair. Further, hair care products would tend to pool along the elastic band line of these caps, and would not tend to be evenly distributed around the individual hair shafts. Additionally, application of one of the prior art caps will inevitably trap air beneath it, potentially interfering with the utility of various hair care products that may have been applied underneath.
Accordingly, the art has needed a means of providing a form fitted cap that, among other utilities, retains hair products and excludes air, and that is both comfortable and easy to apply. The instant invention provides for these needs.